Amendment to the Second Degree

In Model UN and parliamentary procedure, an amendment to the second degree (sometimes called a sub-amendment or secondary amendment) is a proposed change to an amendment that is already on the floor, rather than to the draft resolution itself. It exists so that delegates can refine the wording of a first-degree amendment before the body votes on whether to incorporate it into the main text.

The mechanics are straightforward but strict in most rulebooks:

• A first-degree amendment alters an operative clause of the draft resolution.
• A second-degree amendment alters the text of that pending first-degree amendment.
• Voting order is reversed from the order of introduction: the body votes on the second-degree amendment first, then on the (possibly modified) first-degree amendment, then on the resolution as a whole.
• Most rules of procedure prohibit a third-degree amendment — you cannot amend an amendment to an amendment — to prevent infinite nesting.

Second-degree amendments are common in conferences that follow Robert's Rules of Order or Mason's Manual, and they appear in many THIMUN- and NMUN-style rulebooks, though the exact terminology varies. In the real United Nations General Assembly, Rule 90 of the Rules of Procedure governs the order of voting on amendments and provides that the amendment furthest removed in substance from the original proposal is voted on first — a functionally similar principle.

Strategically, delegates use second-degree amendments to narrow or soften a hostile first-degree amendment they cannot defeat outright, or to strengthen a friendly one before it goes to a vote. Because they are procedurally fragile (one failed vote and the underlying amendment reverts to its original form), they reward delegates who understand the chair's specific rules of procedure before the session begins.